


A Hextremely Awkward Conversation

by Enchantix6789



Category: Ever After High
Genre: Apple White - Freeform, Awkward Conversations, Darling Charming - Freeform, Dolls, Dragon Games, EAH - Freeform, Ever After High - Freeform, F/F, Fanfic, Fanfiction, Fic, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Heart-to-Heart, Love, My First Work in This Fandom, Oneshot, Requited Love, Romance, TV Special: Epic Winter (Ever After High), Yeah this was pointless, but just go with it, cartoon, fairytales - Freeform, mattel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 08:15:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28614951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enchantix6789/pseuds/Enchantix6789
Summary: Darling Charming and Apple White finally sit down to talk about what happened during the Dragon Games. What event exactly? You Know the one... *wink* *wink*
Relationships: Darling Charming/Apple White
Comments: 8
Kudos: 55





	A Hextremely Awkward Conversation

So… yeah. That awkward conversation. You know the one. The one you’ve been avoiding for admittedly quite some time now, despite the pressing nature of the questions that have yet to be answered. The one that has caused you to avoid a certain person for an equally long period of time, just to prolong the awkwardness even more. The one that’s so important that it is actually making things even more awkward by just avoiding it.

Yeah, that one.

It’s that conversation where you discuss how the person you _thought_ was going to awake you from a poisoned sleep and rule the kingdom with you is in fact _not_ the guy you had assumed was your Prince Charming, rather his _sister_ of all people.

You can’t relate? Oh, right - that’s just Apple then. 

It had been Raven who had convinced Apple it was finally time to break the ice between her and Darling, which, honestly had surprised Apple, considering that Raven was not exactly the destiny type. However, she knew her roommate and friend was right when she began to notice that Darling too was displaying signs of anxiety about the whole situation. Besides, she knew she had no excuse not to talk to Darling when classes were cancelled due to the most insane snow day Ever After had ever seen. 

Apple perched in her dorm room which was lavished in reds and purples - although it was a lot whiter than it usually was - and gazed at the mirrorphone in her perfectly manicured hands. The hext message had already been typed, the only thing left for Apple to do was to hit send. Psyching herself up, she took a deep breath and rolled back her shoulders before hitting send with the speed of a wolf, barely touching the screen, as if the phone was too hot to be touched for long.

Apple’s hext had barely left the safety of her hextbox before her dorm room door swung open, causing the princess to swivel her head in the door’s direction with a start.

“Hey, Apple. Can we talk?” Princess Darling Charming glided in, the delicate features of her face contorted into a worried look that Apple could not recall having seen Darling display before now. 

She binked for a few times with the shock of Darling’s scarily and conveniently timed drop-by, before managing to force the words out of her rose-red lips. “O-of course. Please, come in.” Darling shut the door behind her as Apple beckoned her over to sit on the edge of her bed with her. The two sat facing each other as they sat but turned away almost as soon as they made eye contact. 

A dreaded silence hung over the pair in apprehension of an even more dreaded topic of conversation. Deciding she wanted to just get this over and done with, Apple opened her mouth to speak, but Darling beat her to it.

“I was waiting for you to come and talk to me. I knew that we should talk about… what happened, but I didn’t want to push you. This really has a bigger impact on you than it does on me, and I wanted to give you some time to process. But lately I’ve felt the need to clear the air between us. Sorry.”

Apple turned to face the other princess, who lifted her eyes to meet Apple’s as she did so. “No, that’s ok, I am ready to talk now.” She forced a small, albeit decisive smile to appear, which made Darling’s features relax a little. “I appreciate you waiting until I was ready. I’m just sorry I made _you_ wait so long.”

The Charming princess shook her head gently, causing the cascading locks of her white-blonde and blue hair to fall over her shoulders. “Don’t worry about it. I’m glad we’re finally sitting down to talk about this now.” A brief falter in Apple’s face told Darling she didn’t quite feel the same way. “Why don’t you start by telling me what you think about all this?”

Apple sighed, “Well, if I am being honest, I’m freaked out. I’ve always loved Daring - as a friend - but I liked the idea of him being my prince; I guess that having some sort of certainty to fall back on reassured me that I would get my happily ever after, with Daring being that certainty.”

Darling’s nose crinkled in confusion. “But Apple, you always knew how your destiny would pan out, even if Daring isn’t your prince, you’ll still rule Ever After some day.”

Playing with strands of her blonde hair, Apple momentarily contemplated whether to share this information with Darling. They’d never exactly been very close before, but she supposed she was going to have to get used to it if Darling would potentially rule the kingdom with her one day.

“I’ve always had doubts about if I would have my fairytale ending, even before Raven admitted she didn’t want hers - which, I understand now, being on the side of evil is _not_ fun -” Apple suddenly felt embarrassed and ashamed as she rehashed her recent series of horrendous decisions. Darling picked up on what was going through Apple’s mind and placed a hand on her shoulder, causing Apple to eye it, and then her, in surprise. 

“Water under the bridge, my friend.” Darling smiled sweetly at Apple, who was astonished into silence by her kindness and understanding. The look of gratitude on Apple’s face was all Darling needed.

“Anyway,” The princess in red and white winter attire continued, regaining her composure and releasing the grasp on her left arm that she did not even realise she was clutching until that moment. “It was made _explicit_ to me as a child that my blonde hair and imperfect eyesight meant that there was something wrong with me, and that I might not be able to fulfill my destiny. And... I just hated the uncertainty of it all. Then, when Raven didn’t sign the Storybook of Legends, it was like my destiny was teetering on the precipice of a cliff! I tried so hard to convince Raven to sign, but when she did and her full evil powers consumed her, I realised then that she was just too good of a person to be the next Evil Queen. I thought I was fine with it, or at least I tried to convince myself I was, but then the Evil Queen gave me a chance to have my destiny after all… I guess the desperation, the want and the fear of the uncertainty of my future just took over.”

Darling nodded. Whilst she recognised that none of this justified her actions, she knew that Apple knew that too and didn’t want to make her feel any worse. She also knew that, although not so much anymore, following your destiny was the norm, and the expectation surrounding you doing so was immense. Darling resonated with what it was like to be expected to be 100% perfect 110% of the time - and what it felt like when it was pointed out to you that you did not meet these unrealistic expectations. Although she knew she shouldn’t, Darling did care about what others thought of her. What her mother thought of her was the hardest to swallow. “I appreciate you telling me all of that. It must have been hard.”

Apple gave a small nod. “Although, what’s really been playing on my mind is…”

“What the kiss meant?” Darling finished for her.

A rose hue flushed to Apple’s cheeks. “Um, yeah.”

“No need to feel embarrassed, Apple.”

“It’s just that… it’s not that I don't want _you_ specifically to be the hero of my story, I just need to know if it was...” Her eyes swivelled away from Darling’s, unable to utter the next few words if they were making eye contact. “If it was true love’s kiss or not, because I know that not all generations of Snow Whites and Charmings have had true love involved in their stories. Still, I’m a little anxious not knowing. ”

“Yeah, I think that we forget sometimes that as the generations have progressed, the script hasn’t exactly been followed to a tee. It’s probably not possible. I mean, I didn’t think to kiss you because I am in love with you - not that I am in love with you, just putting that out there - I gave you the kiss of life because I remembered that in the original sequence of events Snow White awoke after the apple was dislodged from her throat. Although, I suppose that we can’t know for sure what ours meant until the time to carry out our destinies actually comes.”

The Charming saw Apple’s face fall and extended her arm out to rub her back soothingly. As she did, she felt a sudden urge to ask the question she had been wanting to ask for a while now. Just as she was about to, Apple piped up again.

“Oh my fairy godmother, how selfish of me! I haven’t even asked how _you_ are feeling.” Shaking her head, Darling insisted that it was fine, but Apple was even more insistent that it was not. “So… how do you feel?”

Placing her delicate hands on her knees, rubbing them to keep warm amidst the increasingly cold temperature, Darling tilted her head to the side. “A little guilty. I know this was never actually Daring’s destiny to begin with, but it still feels like I am stealing it from him; and also because I feel like I have messed things up for you big time and have made you so worried.”

A pair of soft hands raced to find Darling’s. “Oh Darling, please don’t feel that way. Without you, I wouldn’t be here right now. You’re my hero.”

Darling was pleasantly surprised to see the other princess wink at her, lifting the tensions and awkward atmosphere in the room massively. Suddenly, she felt confident to ask her friend a question. “Apple, why do you want your destiny so bad?”

She had to ponder the thought for a minute, which struck Darling as odd, as she was sure that anyone who wanted their destiny as much as Apple did must have some strong motivations. Aside from the obvious happily ever after. 

“I’ve never known of any other way to live out my life.” She said blanky, as if she was too busy trying to process the realisation to show any emotion. “Ever since I can remember, my mother has been telling me how my destiny would be laid out for me - living according to my destiny is the only thing I know to do to not elicit her disappointment - ... so I just never questioned it. 

Darling blinked in surprise. “Oh.”

At that moment, Darling shivered at the baltic gust of wind that blew past them. It was then that Apple first took note of how un-weather appropriate her outfit was: a shoulder-length sleeved light blue and silver dress which barely reached her knees, along with an Ever After High winter shawl that clearly was not doing its job in this weather. 

“Oh my.” The warmly dressed princess sprung up from off of her bed to fetch a red velvet throw which was folded up neatly on her chair. She returned to Darling’s side and wrapped the blanket around her. “There you go.” She said perkily. 

“Thank you.” Darling wrapped the blanket tightly around herself and took a deep breath. Now was her chance. “You know, if you wanted to try and find out about whether the kiss might have meant something or not, we could go on a date. For the sake of certainty and getting answers of course.”

For a second, Apple believed that she really did propose the idea for research purposes, when Darling winked at her.

“Oh…” Apple breathed aloud as she realised that Darling might like her as more than a friend. 

_Shoot! Maybe this wasn’t the right time after all._ Darling fretted. _“_ Don’t worry, it’s fine. I only meant that-”

Apple placed her hand on Darling’s knee, which sent shivers up her spine - not just from the coldness of her touch. “I would love to.” 

If the events of the Dragon Games and her Chat with Darling weren’t wake up calls, she didn’t know what was. She decided that perhaps it was time to stop living so ‘by the book’, to stop worrying about her destiny and try something different that she wanted to experience. Apple realised that this was something she really would like to try. “I don’t need to believe that Daring will be my prince to reassure me about my future; not when I have you.”

Darling squeezed Apple’s hand that was still on her knee, before standing up from the four-poster bed and helping Apple up. “True love or not, Apple, you’ll always have me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please review. :) x


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